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| Phillies third baseman Kevin Frandsen hit his first home run since 2007. (US Presswire) |
A.J. Burnett was four outs from his second career no-hitter, while Justin Verlander saw his streak of consecutive starts of six innings or more snapped. But it wasn't all about pitching on Tuesday.
Full Tuesday scoreboard with recaps and box scores for every game
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Kevin Frandsen, Phillies: The last time Kevin Frandsen hit a home run in the big leagues, Nationals starter Steven Strasburg was a freshman at San Diego State. In his first at-bat on Tuesday, Frandsen hit a two-run shot off of Strasburg, marking his first homer since Sept. 30, 2007, when he hit his fifth of the season off of the Dodgers' D.J. Houlton.
Lew Ford, Orioles: He was just 1 for 4 and is hitting .091 on the season, but the one hit -- a third-inning double in the third inning -- was his first since 2007. Since then he's played for Japan's Hanshin Tigers, Guerreros de Oaxaca in Mexico and two stints with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. The 35-year-old made his way back to the big leagues, so one hit in an Orioles win is impressive enough.
Former Twins: Here's where the 2007 references drop off, since in 2007 Francisco Liriano missed the entire season and A.J. Pierzynski was having a down year at the plate. Still, the two former Twins hurt their old team on Tuesday. In his first start with his new team, Liriano struck out eight in six innings, giving up two runs on four hits. He didn't factor in the decision, but he certainly made a favorable impression with his new team. Pierzynski, a Twin from 1998-2003, hit his 18th home run of the season in the ninth inning, matching his career-best mark. He hit 18 in 2005 with the White Sox.
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Chicago Cubs: It's never a good thing when you have more errors than hits. Pinch-hitter Adrian Cardenas picked up the team's only hit with two outs in the eighth inning, breaking up A.J. Burnett's no-hit bid. Catcher Steve Clevenger had two errors for the Cubs, while Starlin Castro added another error in the ninth inning.
Ivan Nova, Yankees: A five-run first-inning lead should be a good thing -- but for Nova it wasn't enough, as he allowed seven runs in the second, surrendering his big lead almost as quickly as he got it. Afterward, Nova said it was just "bad luck" that he gave up nine runs on 10 hits in five innings. Yep, bad luck indeed.
Derek Holland, Rangers: It was a rough day for the Rangers' 25-year-old lefty. First the Rangers acquired another pitcher who specializes in doing an imitation of Will Ferrell doing Harry Caray -- and one who does it better in Ryan Dempster. And then he have up six earned runs on five hits and four walks in 6 2/3 innings in his second loss to the Angels this season. He also gave up six earned runs in 6 2/3 innings in a loss to the Angels on July 20.
Prepping for the big series: The Pirates will be able to spend Thursday in lovely Cincinnati, sampling hte local cuisine (four-way with onions) and getting ready for their biggest series of the season. Before their off day in the Queen City and the three-game weekend series with the first-place Reds, Pittsburgh has to finish business in Chicago. Chicago lefty Travis Wood, who has allowed 23 runs (but just 22 earned runs) in 15 2/3 innings over three starts. That's a 12.64 ERA and that's not good. 2:20 p.m. ET
Braves go for 8: Marlins left-hander Wade LeBlanc will make his first start as part of the Marlins' rotation. His first task is cooling off the Braves, who have won their last seven games and are now just 2 1/2 games behind the Nationals in the NL East. Ben Sheets has allowed just one run in his three starts since joining the Braves last month. 7:10 p.m. ET
Rangers losing ground: By winning the first two games of a four-game set in Texas, the Angels are now within three games of the Rangers in the American League West and have won four of their last five against Texas. Yu Darvish is 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA in three starts already against the Angels this season. 8:05 p.m. ET
Wednesday's probable pitchers
• Player goes, bobblehead stays: The Phillies traded outfielder Hunter Pence on Tuesday, but they're keeping his bobblehead day. The team's Aug. 21 promotion is scheduled to go on as planned, with the team handing out 45,000 bobbleheads of the newest San Francisco Giants. The game is against the Reds, at least, so they won't have the awkwardness of honoring an opposing player. [MLB.com's Todd Zolecki]
• Seats filled: Not only are the raw numbers for attendance at Major League Baseball games impressive, but High Heat Stats also shows a possible record-high in the percentage of capacity for all big-league games. So far this season, big league parks are at 72.9 percent capacity, up from 70 percent last season.
• Blanton's strange season: Philadelphia's Joe Blanton is leading the league in K/BB rate, but also giving up the most home runs in the National League. [FanGraphs.com]
• The Most Interesting Team in the World: This year a Washington, D.C. team is 20 games above .500 for the first time since 1933. While this year's Nationals feature Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg among others, the 1933 Senators were much more interesting, Seamheads.com notes. Those Senators featured Moe Berg, along with Hall of Famers Heinie Manush and Goose Goslin, as well as Sam Rice, who finished with 2,987 hits. Those Senators lost to the Giants in World Series.
• Big summer numbers: Offensive numbers are way up across the country in collegiate summer leagues. [Quincy Herald-Whig]
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